Most pathetic state clinches

[andrepoiy]

My most pathetic clinch would be British Columbia:

We were visiting Banff National Park and the hotel that we booked just so happened to be in a neighbouring Yoho National Park in BC. So I was only a few miles into BC for that one night and never went further than that into BC. I've also been to Vancouver Airport for a layover.

You can see that on my TravelMapping if you're interested (andrepoiy_total).

[OCGuy81]

The very first time I visited Arizona, it was heading from California to Utah via I-15, so I only got that tiny section of 15 that goes through Arizona (beautiful area, for the record).

About a year after that, entered Arizona on 10 eastbound from California bound for Phoenix.

[TheGrassGuy]

Only time I've ever been to NH was on I-95 en route to ME without stopping, and only time I've ever been to CA was on an airport layover.

[Scott5114]

My most pathetic clinch would be British Columbia:

We were visiting Banff National Park and the hotel that we booked just so happened to be in a neighbouring Yoho National Park in BC. So I was only a few miles into BC for that one night and never went further than that into BC. I've also been to Vancouver Airport for a layover.

I don't really think anyone can call a clinch where you stayed overnight "pathetic". Sure, you didn't go too far into the province, but you were probably there for at least 8 hours, had at least one meal there, and probably took a shower. Definitely more substantial than the OP example of driving across the WV panhandle.

[kphoger]

Some of mine were later supplanted by "real" clinches.  Examples:

I drove a few times across the Oklahoma panhandle from Kansas to Texas and back, without ever stopping in Oklahoma any of those times.  Since then, I've traveled to Tulsa for work, gone rafting near Tahlequah, and driven all the way across the bulk of the state many times.

I once drove across the corner of Arizona on I-15 on the way from Utah to Las Vegas.  On that same trip, though, we visited the Grand Canyon on the return trip.  And, since then, I've stayed in the Tucson area.

[webny99]

Some of mine were later supplanted by "real" clinches.

Same here. Delaware would be a prime example, having only passed through on I-95 and I-495 until taking a more substantial trip through the state on DE 1 and US 113 last summer.

There are also cases where a visit to a state counts as pathetic, but it just didn't happen to be your first visit. In my case, passing through both West Virginia and Maryland on I-81 would be examples of this, having been to Maryland a few years earlier, and taken a more substantial routing through West Virginia earlier in the same trip.

[SEWIGuy]

Some of mine were later supplanted by "real" clinches.  Examples:

I drove a few times across the Oklahoma panhandle from Kansas to Texas and back, without ever stopping in Oklahoma any of those times.  Since then, I've traveled to Tulsa for work, gone rafting near Tahlequah, and driven all the way across the bulk of the state many times.

I once drove across the corner of Arizona on I-15 on the way from Utah to Las Vegas.  On that same trip, though, we visited the Grand Canyon on the return trip.  And, since then, I've stayed in the Tucson area.

The first time I clinched North Carolina, I walked about ten feet or so into the state on the Appalachian Trail in the Great Smokey Mountains.

I have since been on business trips to there multiple times - but it was a good ten years between trips!

[FrCorySticha]

I was able to clinch Michigan by driving 5 miles along US 12 from Michigan City, IN to New Buffalo, MI, then turning around on I-94 back to Indiana. At least it was a nice drive along the coast of Lake Michigan.

[ctkatz]

the first time I visited wyoming it was only through us 212.  we never got out of the car.  the only real exciting thing that happened was a severe thunderstorm was rolling through the area. I saw drifts of hailstones in montana on the rez we passed through.

other cheap clinches would be dc through i95/495 and maine.  last year I only went up to the first open exit on 95 north, got gas and lunch and went right back out, the sole purpose was to set feet and wheels in maine.

[paulthemapguy]

My clinch of Kansas is a combination of 3 pathetic clinches- consider my first one to be the original and thus most pathetic.  Then getting marginally less pathetic from there. 

1. 2012 trip to the Grand Canyon, using I-44.  It was a year after the record-setting deadly tornado that hit Joplin, so I wanted to see what the town looked like.  An eerie and grounding experience.  Leaving Joplin, we went west on what would become KS-66, then south on KS-26 to return to I-44 via the US166/400 interchange.  That was my sole clinch of Kansas at the time.

2.  May 2014 marked my inaugural trip to start my national route collection, a journey to get a photo of every major Interstate, every US highway, and 3 state highways from each state.  I chose KS-7, KS-20, and KS-32 to make it easy for me.  This trip led me to clip the southeast corner of NE and the northeast corner of Kansas, via US-159 west to US73 south to US36 east. 

3.  The next day, I clipped another corner of Kansas heading south on I-635 to I-70 east.  That got me a photo of KS-32 and US56.

To this day, my only Kansas experiences have been these three short corner clippings of Kansas.

[OCGuy81]

If we can count airport layovers, then I've clinched Pennsylvania by way of a layover at PHI.

[Flint1979]

If this was county clinching I'd have several pathetic clinches. There are a lot of times I've just drove into a county, turned around and went back just so I could say I clinched it. Harder to do that with a state but I believe my Kansas experience still stands. I also don't think very highly of my Maryland clinch but it's not as pathetic as my Kansas clinch.

For Maryland I only have the 2 miles between the Pennsylvania state line and the West Virginia state line in Hancock. Sliding through on US-522 it doesn't even seem like you went through Maryland.

[hbelkins]

Now that i have ridden across Nebraska on Amtrak, Maine is mine. Only one county (although I have been there twice.)

[ftballfan]

I've spent the night in MD before, but the last time I went through MD was via US-522, which is all of two miles

[Bruce]

Another one: landed at Newark Airport, rode the bus to Newark Penn Station, then took PATH to Manhattan. Never got around to crossing the Hudson again for my trip, so 2 hours is all I have spent in New Jersey.

[WillWeaverRVA]

The only time I've ever been to Indiana was a weather-related layover in South Bend in which I never got off the plane.

The only time I've ever been to Colorado was also a layover in Denver where we actually did get off the plane (it started having power issues after landing, and we ended up on another plane).

[sbeaver44]

I imagine there's somebody out there who's clinch of New Mexico consists of the 0.9 mile of US 160 near Four Corners.  Even if one drove up to the monument on the way, it's a total of about a mile-and-a-half.

Hello there!  My entire time in NM is clinching US 160, and NM 597, for a stop at Four Corners.

[cpzilliacus]

Nevada.  The only time I have ever set foot in the state was to visit the Cal Neva resort on Lake Tahoe on SR-28.  The casino side of the resort is (naturally) on the Washoe County, Nevada side of the property (the California side is in Placer County) and at the time I was there, had the old-fashioned one-armed bandit-style electro-mechanical slot machines. 

So an hour or two to eat lunch and waste some quarters in the slot machines.

[apeman33]

Indiana: Drove onto I-74 off the ramp on the east side of Danville, Ill., which ends almost right at the state line. Stopped at the first rest area. Drove north on IN-63 to U.S. 136 and right back into Danville. A 20-mile loop.

[cstp3103]

Besides airport layovers in Missouri and Ohio (formerly Pennsylvania and NC as well), my most pathetic state clinch has been also been West Virginia, via I-81.

[deathtopumpkins]

Current:
Arizona: only driven through the corner on I-15 (though this will change in a few weeks). Also had a long layover at PHX.

Former:
Mississippi: drove through on a one-way drive to New Orleans back in 2015. Don't think we even stopped in the state. Drove through again in 2020 on US 72 - still have not stopped in the state.
Kansas: entered from OK on US 69 Alt, exited into MO on US 166. Later drove across on I-70 in 2019, and returned in 2021 including spending the night in Wichita.
Wisconsin: entered from IL on I-94 and turned around again after a couple miles. Later vacationed in Door County in 2019, and drove across on I-90 in 2020.

[Dirt Roads]

Louisiana:  driving from the airport to a hotel near Bourbon Street for a railroad conference.  Not even sure that this should count.

[Rothman]

Louisiana:  driving from the airport to a hotel near Bourbon Street for a railroad conference.  Not even sure that this should count.

If you weren't in Louisiana, then where were you?

[jlam]

About 5 years ago, I went across the border into Nevada while vacationing at Lake Tahoe just to say that I have been to Nevada. I spent about ten minutes in the Silver State before going back across the border into California.

[hobsini2]

Yeah I got a couple.
Alaska was a 1 hour layover in Anchorage.
California was a 12 hour delayed layover at LAX.
Up until 2 years ago, Mississippi was only using I-55 south from Memphis to the first exit before going back to Tennessee. I have now driven the Natchez Trace to Tupelo and I-22 into Alabama.